We The Millennials

I am a Millennial, and I wear it as a Badge. Being able to be proud on one's Millennial status quo is rather difficult. While media is bombarding us with claims of being the "Me-Me-Me-Generation". We are also named as the "Generation Y", the "Echo Boom" and of course the "Millennials".

Generations 101

Baby Boomers: people born between 1946 and 1961

GenerationX: People born between 1962 and 1981

Millennials: People born between the 1980 and early 2000s.

For more information on the generations click here 

The story of Millennials

I was born in the late 80s. The technology was budding not quite abundant in my part of the world. I had playmates during my early childhood. We played outside in evenings, we rode bicycles and climbed trees. We played indoors with "cool" stuff like Nintendo game boy and Super Mario on our (for now it is lousy, but we thought they were awesome) video game players. During the late 90s, we had desktop computers and our friends were all on the "yahoo instant messenger". You see it was promising we saw technology flourishing, changing to better and better.

  

We were told that the future is ours. We were supposed to be the golden generation of technology and power. Space age, Jetpacks, hoverboards ( A real one, that "hovers" not a wheeled one!) we were promised that it is going to be a bright future. All we have to do is study and be focused. We can be anything if we work hard. And we did! 

And then 9/11 happened ... wars, wars, wars. It is not that there were no wars before that. But 9/11 shaped the decay we become "adults". The phase that we waited for all our childhood and adolesce was affected by the Recession. The sluggish economy, unemployment, student loans and global warming that is our heritage. It is not what we were promised, It is about time we are disillusioned of the promised Golden Era.

Now when they (Gen X and Baby Bloomers) look at us they see the Entitled, Lazy, Ungrateful, Self-Obsessed, Drunk on Technology, Adult-Child ... Snapchatting each other while taking a dump. They compare us with themselves, patting their backs on their own success, as they entered the workforce with flourishing economy and booming technology. That allowed them to climb the ladders of sucess over time. Or perhaps they are envious of us for we are vigorously using the technology they developed, we can access shit-load of information with a pat on our phone screens.

We Millennials have  a bad reputation! let us break down the stereotypes 

We are Narcissistic

We are quite notorious for being "Narcissistic" and the  self-involved generation. So what is wrong in being involved in oneself? I don't find it should be intimidating to the world overall. Yes, we Snapchat every damn thing to out BFFs. Yes, we upload selfies with our lunch on Instagram. Does that make us suffering from narcissistic disorder( a medical condition)? That's a rather silly claim don't you think! We have access to social media we want to know what our friends are up to, we want to be connected. 

We are Lazy and Entitled

We were brainwashed to believe, we deserve and will get the best of the world if we work hard and dedicated towards goals, just like the preceding generations. Our "cheerleading parents" boosted our morals assuming the political and economic conditions will be same for us as it was for them. The irony is, that the capitalist greed made education a business and we burdened with the aspirations of education or debts of students loans. Competition is tight as the population of millennials is high. See we are not lazy we are under debt. we are not entitled, our college degrees were not as economical to earn as it was for previous generations. We worked our way through it and we are still pushing the boundaries. 

We are Not Family Oriented 

Yes, our relationships are often shaky. We are not ready to get married or "settle down" majorly because we do not have the "finances" to settle down unless we get married and move in with our parents. We cannot afford a housing that the previous generation could. We want to have a family but we are not equipped to have a house of our own and raise a child, yet. We don't want to be struggling with our uncertain jobs and a child to feed and educate. So we prefer to push the timeline and be mentally and financially ready before we get married and/or have a child. Unless we expect our parents to pay the bills, and be called "entitled".

The list of how we are the worst of humankind goes on and on but what the critics (who are majorly GenX and Baby Bloomers) need to consider is:

Cut us a slack, we are living through the sluggish economy and distorting global climate. None of those are the product of our conducts, Still we are facing problems. Criticizing us and blaming us is not a solution. 

Appreciate the Millennial Traits

We are Inclusive we believe in equal rights for all. We support LGBTQ+. We are compassionate and understanding. We are Liberals and Socialist (Feel The Bern). We are hopeful and working towards alternate energy forms to fix the climate. We do not segregate based on gender, sexual orientation, colour or cast. We push the boundaries and most importantly we want a sustainable development. We do not disregard the future generation in the wake of corporate greed and power.  

PS Millennials face a higher depression rate than previous generations. According to recent studies, 44 percent young adults experienced symptoms of depression, and suicide is one of the leading causes of death among youngsters. 

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